1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
323 BC – Alexander the Great dies in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon
173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660) died.
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, 1st woman elected to US Congress (Rep-Montana) Born
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English activist (d. 1929) was born.
1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786) died.
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1898 – Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships set sail for Cuba.
1910 – Carmine Coppola, composer/conductor (Godfather II, Apocalypse Now) Born
1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997) was born.
1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens.
1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown.
1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to first coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
1927 – The continued crackdown on Rum Runners has resulted in arrests throughout the country with many of those caught implicating local politicians and local police . During the last week alone over 20,000 cases of liquor have been seized .
1928 – Alfred Hitchcock’s 1st film, “Case Of Jonathan Drew,” is released
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
1935 – Gene Wilder, [Jerome Silbermann], Milwaukee, actor (Silver Streak, Willy Wonka, Blazing Saddles …) Born
1936 – The International Surrealist Exhibition opens in London, England.
1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
1937 – Union Men from the United Automobile Workers of America wanting to join the Pickets at steel mills in Michigan were turned back today by deputies using tear gas , the Union has now called for mass protests by all members of the Union at Monroe , Michigan
1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
1943 – Heinrich Himmler orders liquidation of Polish ghettos
1943 – Henry Hill Jr., Brooklyn, New York, mobster and FBI informant (inspired Goodfellas), (d. 2012) Born
1944 – Five days after the D-Day landing on June 6th , the five Allied landing groups, made up of some 330,000 troops, converge in Normandy
1944 – USS Missouri (BB-63) the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
1945 – Robert Munsch, American-Canadian author was born.
1946 – John Lawton, British rock singer (Uriah Heep) Born
1947 – Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (King Crimson and Supertramp) was born.
1949 – George Willig, stuntman (climbed World Trade Center in 1977)Born
1949 – Frank Beard, Frankston Texas, US country rock drummer (ZZ Top)Born
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, rock vocalist (.38 Special) Born
1954 – Johnny Neel, American vocalist, songwriter, and musician (The Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule) was born.
1956 – Joe Montana. American football player was born.
1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor, singer, and screenwriter was born.
1959 – A new form of transport which is a cross between an aircraft, a boat and a land vehicle, propelled on a cushion of air created by its own fan power the “Hovercraft”, has it’s official launch at the Solent on the South Coast of England. The Hovercraft ( SRN-1 ) which is still at the experimental level is just 29ft long, but developers believe the technology will allow the production of full scale Hovercraft capable of speeds 50 knots and up to 300 ft long. The SR-N1 Hovercraft was designed by Sir Christopher Cockerell.
1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host was born.
1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. (Prison Closes next year)
1962 – US President John Kennedy accepts an honorary degree from Yale
1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would revolutionist American society. Proposing equal access to public facilities, end segregation in education and guarantee federal protection for voting rights.
1964 – Chicago police break up Rolling Stones press conference
1964 – Queen Elizabeth orders Beatles to her birthday party, they attend
1969 – David Bowie releases “Space Oddity”
1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
1977 – Ryan Dunn, American actor (Jackass..)D. June 20, 2011
1979 – Film star John Wayne , also known as the “Duke,” died of cancer
1979 – Chuck Berry pleads guilty to income tax evasion, sentenced to 4 months
1983 – Josh Ramsay, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Marianas Trench) was born.
1990 – Federal judge sentenced former national security adviser John M Poindexter to 6 months for making false statements to Congress (Iran Contra)
1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (Star Trek) (b. 1920)dies
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.
2009 – Stephen Tyrone Johns, a guard at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. was shot and killed by an eighty-eight year old man. The man opened fire on a crowd inside the museum before he was shot by police and taken into custody. The attacker was reported to be James von Brunn, a white supremacist who had been convicted of prior violent crimes and served time in prison.
2012 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban Heavyweight boxer, dies from a heart attack at 60